ITA Airways’ A320 Business Class: Not So Great

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: February 23, 2023
Published: February 9, 2023

31 comments

Hello from Cairo, as I’m currently on a review trip! After flying ITA Airways’ A350 business class from Miami to Rome, and visiting the ITA Airways Lounge Rome, I flew ITA Airways’ A320 business class from Rome to Cairo. While the transatlantic flight on ITA exceeded my expectations, the short haul flight left a bit to be desired.

In this post:

ITA Airways’ no frills A320 business class

I knew my flight would be operated by a narrow body jet, and as is standard in Europe, this consists of economy seats at the front of the cabin with a blocked middle seat.

On the plus side, unlike some other airlines nowadays, the center seat had a tray on it, which is something I quite appreciate, since it’s an easy place to put something without having your own tray out. However, I think that was more a function of seemingly nothing having been changed about this cabin in the past decade.

ITA Airways A320 business class empty center seat

My flight was operated by a 23-year-old Airbus A320, and the only thing new about it was the ITA Airways livery. Everything else about it was Alitalia. There was no Wi-Fi or streaming entertainment, there were no power outlets, there were no pillows or blankets, and there wasn’t even a curtain that covered the aisle between business class and economy class (which meant people would come up from economy to use the forward lavatory).

Like I said, I have pretty low expectations of short haul business class in Europe. It’s not that this was terrible, it’s just that there was little good about it, unlike on the transatlantic flight.

At least the food was reasonably tasty

As you’d expect from an Italian airline, at least the food was quite decent on this 2hr40min flight. There was the choice of veal or ravioli with ricotta and spinach. I chose the latter, which was tasty enough. It was served with an interesting side salad, a roll, and a dessert with a chocolate tart and some cream.

However, for whatever reason there was no glassware? I’m not sure why ITA Airways is serving drinks in cups in business class? Is this standard, or was something off about my flight?

Bottom line

While ITA’s new A350 long haul product is great, the short haul product leaves a bit to be desired. I’d say the airline offers above average food, while everything else was below average, ranging from the amenities, to the lack of power ports and Wi-Fi, to the use of plastic cups for drinks.

There’s ultimately not a lot of differentiation between airlines on short haul flights to & from Europe (well, unless you’re flying Turkish Airlines), but ITA definitely doesn’t go out of its way to be special on these flights, unlike across the Atlantic.

What do you make of ITA’s A320 business class?

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lasdiner Guest

February 10, 2023, 11:48 am

Ben could have commented ‘not that bad’ based on other factors such as food and ease if connection on FCO, which are superior to equivalent a320 connection flights say, from AF or BA But he chose to say ‘nit that great’ Its a grey area I suspect the verdict also might have to do with whether he gets a freebie or a royal treatment as a famous blogger. If he was schmoozed by the crew and ground personnel, who knows his verdict could’ve been different. It’s human I can see how Italians wouldn’t give much importance and actually would penalize and even ridicule American bloggers. Hence the reviews that some high end establishments tend to get in Italy, where a traveller with personal connections and family ties can be far more considered than one with a shiny credit card and a camera for vlogging

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David Hawkins Guest

February 10, 2023, 9:57 am

If you are paying €50 for a seat in economy you can most certainly do without a usb charger and much else. But if you pay €350 for a business class seat especially if like me it comes out of my own pocket then I expect a better standard of service. My impression is that airlines are trying to offer us a low cost product for a business class fare. Aer Lingus is one of the worst offenders. You would most certainly complain if a four star hotel offered you a bed in a shared dormitory. Same applies to airlines.

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stogieguy7 Diamond

February 10, 2023, 8:33 am

I don't get the tone of the article here; it's standard Eurobusiness and European business class absolutely sucks and is a massive ripoff. This is true of most major Euro airlines who engage in the practice of selling economy seats as "business class". And it doesn't look like ITA's offering is any worse than their peers. If anything, it looks better than the likes of LH or BA as far as their Euro (faux) Business class is concerned. How Europeans tolerate this is beyond me, btw.

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Alistair Guest

February 9, 2023, 11:22 pm

I remember flying Alitalia intra Europe for business years ago and they let one of those passengers from behind the curtain stomp up the aisle like a bull in a china shop, knocking my hand and vino into my neighbors chest and then proceeding to lock the lav door for the next 20 mins and release the most pungent smell of deep refried beans you could imagine. The first row had to have their seats reallocated, my neighbor stripped and wrapped in a blanket and the lav caution sealed until landing in Frankfurt. It’s reckless behavior on behalf of the cabin crew not to enforce the rule of using the restroom according to your class.

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Alan Guest

February 9, 2023, 8:49 pm

Seems pretty standard intra-Europe flight to me, no WiFi or power on most of them and at least the seat was decent. I certainly wouldn't say it was bad from the photos/review - if anything slightly above average!

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